Andrew Cooks Some Puerto Rican Classics | Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern | Travel Channel

Andrew travels to Puerto Rico where flavors tell the history of the island. From the deep-fried treats brought by Africans to the roasted pork made popular by the Spanish, Andrew tries a variety of traditional foods and explores the rich culture of the island.

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At Kiosco stands across the island, we find a beloved Puerto Rican treat called Alcapurrias. Their corn fritters stuffed with meat or seafood, then deep fried. It’s good old fashioned street food. And here at Piccolo Restaurant, Willowburn incorporates them into fine dining, blurring the lines between modern and traditional.

For me, the important part is in the development of our very rustic cuisine. How can we advance it to the next level? Have the cuisine and the culture grow in gastronomic terms, but without really abandoning what really brought us there in the first place.

One of the recipes we’re going to do is land crabs right behind you over here. We’ve got these guys live. Oh come. On, ready to go to another live. Land? Crabs are different from water crabs in that they’re fed corn after they’re caught lending a sweetness to the meat.

It’ll be more of an earthy kind of taste, as in different. So like a blue crab, for instance. Mirepoix or seasonings say a lot about where the chef is from. This is classic Puerto Rican style mirepoix. Carrots, onions, a little celery here.

And then the only foreign thing to the traditional mirepoix is culantro leaves, which is long leaf, cilantro, and same flavor, only a little bit stronger. Once cooked, the land crabs will be broken into tender morsels and added to the sauce for the alcapurrias, which Chef Willow is whipping up.

We don’t know that it’s perfect, but I’d be more than happy to to let you know. Willow. Wow. Good crap flavor. And you see what I’m saying? Phenomenal crap. Flavor. Thank you. And you want. To know something? The fact that it’s not a super sweet crab.

You know, a lot of, like, mud crabs, of course. And other crabs have such a sweet, strong flavor. Seafood. It dominates the other stuff. This is very, very mild. Now that we’ve got the filling, Willow shows me the traditional method for making Puerto Rico’s iconic fritter.

This is a Yuba playera or beach grape plant, right? So I’ve seen these on every tropical beach in the Caribbean I’ve ever been on. That’s correct. When you go to the kiosk out in the by the beach and what have you, you know, you have all the old ladies there.

This is what they do. A little oil here. One spoon for you? Sure. One for me. Okay. And just sort of like. Yeah. Do that. Put a little bit of this there. Make like an egg shaped situation here. Now you take like that much. Essentially you want to fold it, right?

Clamp it here. Nice. And when you become an expert like the women at the kiosk, you know, then we don’t need any of these things. But even 27 years of experience in the kitchen don’t get you there. We are going to drop them right from the leaf. Oh, sure.

That’s why the oil and the leaf. The oil and the leaf in the beginning. And that’s alcapurria. And it’s very original form. Willow is famous for updating traditional cuisine while staying true to its roots, and part of that is reducing the size of the portions so that one fritter isn’t your whole

Dinner. He’s invented a fantastic way to make bite size alcapurrias. The dough, or masa, is made from corn and often has plantains, ground squash, or bananas mixed into it. When you bake this, it’ll get that same oh. It’ll get that beautiful crust. It’s going to be a great crusty thing.

And we’ll get to try those in a minute. With this method the alcapurrias are actually frozen before they’re fried. Okay, so here we have our new version of them coming down. And the other ones are absolutely ready now. So we go check those out. To make sure that they are good and ready.

Yeah they’re good. So Andrew. Yes my friend, we are ready to taste a little alcapurria. Oh, baby. All right. May I? Yes. Of course. Oh my God. That is really nice. That is. This has got to be the essence of the fritter world in Puerto Rico. Alcapurrias.

The texture is absolutely out of sight. And you just have that thin little crust of the batter, right? That creamy, rich crab flavor is out of sight. I’m telling you, we make another couple thousand of these things and we head down to the beach. We’re going to make a fortune, I’m telling you.

In Puerto Rico. The food is as much an amalgam of its rich historical influence as its culture. Chef Willow Bennett has invited me back to his restaurant, cacao. Piccolo is located in the Puerto Rican Museum of Fine Art, and is one more culinary awards than any other restaurant in Puerto Rico.

By combining influences from their African, Spanish and Taino heritage, all with a modern twist, Wilo is going to show me his Puerto Rican spin on one of my favorite dishes. Feet stew. You know, when you cook feet in the local style. This country style in a big cauldron. Feet. Ears of corn.

Garbanzo beans. Chorizo. And it’s all like a big stew. Some people, in the end, just, you know, just grab them and start eating off of it. That’s the way it traditionally is. However, and what we’re trying to do here, which is how to bring the culture to the next

Level without letting go of the roots. What we’ve done is we take the feet, we cook them until they’re nice and soft. We remove all the skins and the meat from the bone. Done the work for everyone. That’s it. We dice the bump like that.

You have all the gelatin content, all the meat. But, you know, you don’t have to deal with the bones and this type of scenario. So we’re going to have chorizo, sofrito, garlic, a little bit of pumpkin, corn, potatoes, garbanzo beans, tomato sauce.

But it’s going to be kind of like a quick stew in the sense that everything is already ready. So we’re just going to put it together. Okay, okay. Are you kidding me? What could be better? I want to be a loaf of bread, crawl inside it and wipe myself inside that pan.

That is just the smell of the chorizo and the sofrito. And the garlic is insane. All of them. So, Andrew, here is our stew. Already finished. You can see it’s nicely thickened up. I need. Big, honkin, gnarly pieces of foot.

See, you’re always working this huge bone and gristle to try to get all the pleasure out of it, and you have now taken the effort. It’s fantastic. Well, thank you. I love to do it. Oh my God. And.

You still have just the right amount of gelatinous flavor on your lips, which to me is the whole pleasure. Of doing this kind of dish. That’s like a big part of it. And the piece de resistance is the thin strip of skin on top.

Wow. Yeah. This crunchy chicken has about as much relationship to those little puffy pieces of chicken in the bag back home that you buy at the gas station. As my sitting in your refrigerator makes me a quart of milk. I mean this seriously, this is as good as it gets.

Mm. I can see you’re getting pretty busy out there. So. Yeah, I’m taking this with me, though. In Puerto Rico, you. Really can’t have it all. Lush tropical beaches, amazing high mountain rainforest, the cobblestone streets of Old San Juan. And trust me, the food is just as dramatically surprising at every turn.

From the inventive cucina criolla of Willow Binay’s PKU to the humble little kiosks that line the streets of Pinones, Puerto Rican food is simply out of this world. And remember, when you come here, if it looks good, eat it.